Lawyers love to donate

September 15, 2008
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Lawyers like to give money to campaigns. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, lawyers and the legal industry in Indiana are the second-leading industry in donations to political campaigns. In 2008, the legal community has donated nearly $1 million. Retirees in Indiana lead the state in donations – go figure.

Our state’s top contributors include Baker & Daniels, Barnes & Thornburg, and Ice Miller. Those three firms’ political action groups and attorneys have collectively donated $371,361 to local and national campaigns, and other political action groups.

Data from the Center for Responsive Politics also reveals how much money lawyers and law firms nationwide have donated to the presidential candidates. Republican nominee Sen. John McCain has received $8 million; Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama has received three times that amount. Taking a look at long-term donations to political parties by lawyers and law firms, the amount of donations to the Democratic Party has consistently been more than donations to the Republican Party by nearly three-to-one.

Why are Democrats more often on the receiving end of donations from attorneys and law firms instead of Republicans? Are Democratic attorneys more likely to donate than Republicans to political parties or is it more attorneys agree with the ideas of the Democratic Party?
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  1. vagueness cannot challenged, so let's write all laws vaguely and throw the constitution out the window.Even if the court is operating under a particular law, if they don't it they will change it to their liking. What a joke!!!

  2. Two convictions becomes one conviction with exactly the same sentence, only it is not clear wheter or not that sentence will be 18 months, 120 months or 138 months. Actually if the guns were in a home, whether or not they were his, he is protected under the 2nd amendment. Jurors need to learn the law and the constitution before judging others. The cour5ts need to do this as well.

  3. With all due respect, Rick, I think you probably would be making a mistake by going to law school. The job market for attorneys is so saturated, you may well find yourself unemployed and with a lot of debt. You mention law would be a good supplement to your skills. True. But employers unfortunately don't value that. You will find that a law degree may well pigeonhole you into an attorney slot and limit career options. If you have a good job now I would hold onto that. As an attorney, you may well end up making less with the aforementioned debt.

  4. Jack, I was only responding to bill's comment of tying everybody in government together. I agree with you though, it takes one bad apple to ruin the bunch.. As in any profession. What's truly unfair is when somebody violates someone's trust and takes complete advantage of someone

  5. John’s comment is unfair. The majority of attorneys can be trusted. Unfortunately, all it takes is one greedy, unscrupulous, immoral attorney to jade the public.

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